– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

This is the Cola Bay, a small stretch of

water at the center of a global race to

dominate the Arctic. From here, Russia

could mine the Arctic for oil, gas, and

minerals, export those resources, and

launch a nuclear weapon at anyone who

threatens its ambitions. This is where

Russia is storing part of the world's

largest icebreaker fleet designed to

plow its way through melting Arctic ice.

About 5 mi away is the Arctic's largest

shipping port, which could one day

export the resources Russia wants to

mine from the seabed. And 20 m north is

a naval base storing some of Russia's

most powerful nuclear submarines.

The Arctic is becoming very fast one of

the most interesting places on the

planet. Because of receding ice, there

are more resources that people are

eyeing to compete over, and there's a

number of countries that are looking at

uh exploiting them. This is why the Cola

Bay sits at the heart of Russia's fight

for the Arctic.

I went there in 2021. It's a beautiful

area, kind of rolling hills leading into

the Cola Bay, but more than that, it's a

very closed area. There's a lot of

military installations, a lot of places

that you can't go.

The Arctic is a sort of microcosm of

geopolitical tensions.

It's not as remote as it appears on the

map. The assumption is that the

potential for a conflict in the Arctic

is likely to happen first outside the

region and spill over to the region

rather than we will see a clash of

different countries in in the Arctic.

Russia's Arctic coastline stretches

nearly 15,000 m along the Arctic Ocean.

The Cola Bay sits in the northwest,

giving it strategic access to the Arctic

and North Atlantic oceans and

neighboring NATO countries. We've seen

this slow incremental militarization of

the Arctic. Russia wants to get to a

point where if it feels threatened in

its high north, it can react militarily.

Obviously, that creates a whole bunch of

new scenarios both for Moscow and for

the NATO neighbors that are right next

door.

The Northern Fleet is Russia's Arctic

Navy division, including some of the

most powerful weapons in its nuclear

triad.

One of the biggest arms of that nuclear

triad sits right in the Cola Bay. Russia

stores some of its nuclearpowered

submarines here, which can be used to

patrol icy waters and carry nuclear

missiles.

The northern fleet is basically

comprised of a lot of strategic

submarines that carry nuclear missiles.

This is basically their second strike

capacity.

That's essentially Russia's ability to

strike back if it was hit first by a

land-based nuclear attack. Because its

submarines are powered by nuclear

energy, they can carry out missions for

months at a time. If you're looking at a

Russian nuclearpowered sub, it could

probably stay out at sea indefinitely.

And the Arctic ice actually plays a key

role in Russia's nuclear deterrent

strategy since its submarines can hide

under the ice before attacking.

A lot of Russia's military thinking in

this area comes down to what is called a

bastion concept. So creating a fortress

right above the Cola Bay. And it uses

air defense, it uses various types of

submarines, it uses jet fighters as

well. And so what they're doing is

really kind of building out this very

integrated system of defenses to make

sure that their nuclear capable

submarines really stay protected.

Core to that strategy are Russia's ultra

powerful nuclear icebreaker ships, many

of which are stored here, giving them

easy access to the Arctic Ocean.

What they can do is with those ice

breakers practically travel almost

anywhere they want to. They can be

deployed at different times of the year,

breaking different grades of ice,

thickness of ice, and types of ice. For

comparison, Russia has around 40 ice

breakers at its disposal, while the US

has just three. Some icebreaker ships

are used by researchers to explore the

minerals beneath the melting sea ice,

and others are fitted out with weaponry

like cannons, guns, and missiles.

In the past, Ukraine was very important

in providing various parts for Russia's

ice breakers. Since the war started,

that no longer happens. In fact, one of

the plants that was building a motor for

a Russian icebreaker came under attack

by the Russians. So that kind of ended

those plans very quickly.

These ice breakers also need to sail in

front of any cargo ships passing through

the northern sea route. This trade route

between Asia and Europe is shorter than

going through the Suez Canal and it's

been opening up more in recent years

thanks to melting sea ice. When we look

at the Arctic and the infrastructure

there, it's very scarce. We have to

think dual use. One of the Russian major

objectives is to develop the northern

zero as this international maritime link

between you Asia, Europe and and

Northern America. But this will also

have military strategic importance.

Russia's port of Mormons is the largest

commercial port along the route and it's

one of the only deep water ports in the

Arctic that doesn't freeze over for

parts of the year. You need a deep sea

water port to really handle some of

these very big loads, especially when

we're talking about the kind of

resources that Russia wants to export.

While the US and EU have sanctioned

Russian coal, oil, and gas, Russia

recently opened a new port to serve a

different trading partner, its Asian

export markets.

They can take their coal from inside

Russia up to the shores of the Cola Bay

and then basically send them eastward to

China.

China wants to become more of an Arctic

player. So Russia is balancing keeping

its trading partner happy while not

allowing it too much control which

is really interesting. There has been

this cooperation growing between Russia

and China in the Arctic. Russia was

willing to put the Arctic card on the

table. For instance, when Ciin Ping was

visiting Moscow and say that they are

open to joint management of the northern

Syria, this is a big change.

So what does this all mean for the rest

of the world? Depends on who you ask. If

we're looking at NATO countries, I think

we're looking at a bunch of different

visions of how it should play out. I

think, you know, the United States has

expressed grand ambitions to buy

Greenland, for example.

Other NATO countries who have relied on

US military support are building up

their own military capabilities.

The Cola Bay, I think, really represents

Russia's ability to defend its Arctic

interests. It has all of the weapons

systems and capabilities that it needs

to make sure that it can control parts

of the Arctic that it considers to be

most important for itself.

On the trade front, Canada has said it

wants to build infrastructure along its

own Arctic trade route, the Northwest

Passage, but it's still years away from

becoming a reality. I was talking to the

CEO of a very large American arms

company the other day and he was saying

that the Arctic is always a place of

great potential, but it really depends

on whether or not the US follows through

on its plans or allows Russia to

continue to take the lead.

As the race for the Arctic heats up,

what's happening here in the Cola Bay is

setting the pace.

[Music]